Parliament Seeks to Postpone Submission of Statement on Constitutional Court Review of Six Articles of New Criminal Code
Jakarta — The House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR RI), in its capacity as the legislative body, requested a postponement in submitting its statement regarding the judicial review of Law No. 1 of 2023 concerning the new Criminal Code at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta on Monday.
The DPR’s legal representatives at the Court’s plenary session were represented by members of the Parliamentary Expertise Board, Muhammad Wildan and Aji Jaluh.
“With your permission, we hereby request a postponement of the submission of our statement. We have already sent a letter of request electronically,” said Muhammad Wildan.
The DPR did not elaborate on its reasons for requesting the postponement during the plenary session regarding petitions No. 275, 280, 282/PUU-XXIII/2025 and 26, 27, 29/PUU-XXIV/2026.
Constitutional Court Chief Suhartoyo stated that today’s plenary session was scheduled to hear statements from the President and the DPR RI regarding six petitions from cases in 2025 and 2026.
After hearing the DPR’s postponement request, the Court’s Chief allowed Deputy Justice Minister Prof Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej to present the President’s statement.
“The DPR has not yet presented its statement, though we are still checking whether the notification has been received for the postponement. From the President’s side, Prof Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej is invited to the podium to present the statement,” said Suhartoyo.
During this plenary session, most of the time was spent hearing arguments from the Deputy Justice Minister representing the President’s legal interests.
One petition, No. 282/PUU-XXIII/2025 concerning provisions on insulting state institutions, was filed by nine law students from Universitas Terbuka. They challenged Articles 240 and 241 of the new Criminal Code, arguing that the distinction between criticism and insulting the state or government remains unclear.
Additionally, provisions concerning the offence of spreading false information are regulated in Articles 263 and 264 of the new Criminal Code. Any person who disseminates uncertain, exaggerated, or false information that causes public unrest can face sentences of up to two, four, and six years respectively.
However, as argued by Delpedro and Muzaffar in their petition, the provision on spreading false information in the old Criminal Code was actually annulled by the Constitutional Court through decision No. 78/PUU-XXI/2023.
After hearing the Deputy Justice Minister’s statement, the eight Constitutional Court judges responded, with four of them raising questions that were directly addressed by the Deputy Justice Minister.
The session, which lasted more than an hour, was concluded and will continue with hearing the DPR’s statement at the next session.
However, as next week coincides with the religious holidays of Nyepi and Eid al-Fitr, the Court’s panel has not yet determined when the next hearing will be held.
“We as the judges’ panel must hear the DPR’s statement, which will be scheduled for the next session. Given that this is close to the long holiday period, the date has not yet been determined. Once a date is set, we will notify both the President and the DPR,” said Suhartoyo.